After starting my adult life on the pill, and not being good friends with hormones, I had a 30-year journey with the Paragard. And what a journey it was!
Like said earlier, insertions are PAINFUL! I had three of them, and dreaded each one. I had each insertion done while I was menstruating, and the cervix was naturally dilated, but still PAINFUL! After the first one, at 25, I kept menstruating for another two weeks – and it was very heavy menstruation. Like my body was trying to expell the IUD. My gynecologist said she had never seen menstruation so heavy. Periods over the next couple of months would be very heavy, but each one would be a little bit lighter than the previous one. It took about a year before my periods were somewhat back to close to what they were, but still rather heavy, and would remain so until menopause.
Another challenge I had, our first intercourse after insertion, my husband hit the strings, which he definitely did not enjoy. Let’s say it’s because he’s “quite big”. I was told to wait three months, and come back to get the strings trimmed. Which I did. And that problem went away. Fortunately. After the second and third insertions, we had to do the same thing. A frustrating three months for both of us.
At my third and last insertion, I asked my gynecologist about switching to the Mirena. I really liked the idea of curtailing periods. But she knew I was a smoker, and therefore convinced me, not only because I was a smoker but especially at 45, that I did not need to introduce hormones into my system. So I stuck with the Paragard.
Menopause was behind me at 54, this is when I had the Paragard removed. It was reassuring, being there for the removal, and knowing that it would not be followed by another painful insertion this time.
The Paragard is certainly not for everybody, but after a rough first year, I wound up swearing my mine. Since we are both very true to each other, and because of a better than 99% effective rate, the Paragard meant totally worry-free sex for us.